Klitschko vs. Povetkin in Frankfurt, Germany – News

By Boxing News - 07/04/2010 - Comments

By Jason Kim: The heavyweight clash between IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (54-3, 48 KO’s) and his unbeaten challenger Alexander Povetkin (19-0, 14 KO’s) will be taking place at the Commerzbank-Arena, in Frankfurt, Hessen, Germany. Klitschko and his promotional team K2 East, won the purse bid last week, enabling klitschko to pick the spot where he wanted the fight to take place. Naturally, Wladimir chose Germany, his adopted country, where he’s been recently selling out huge football stadiums and make quite of bit of money for even dull opponents.

Povetkin, 30, isn’t a boring fighter, but he isn’t quite dangerous either. Wladimir, 6’6 1/2″, will have a huge size and power advantage over the 6’2″ Povetkin, and will also be the quicker fighter as well. The only thing that Povetkin has going for him in this fight is his ability to fight really hard, set a high pace, and to throw a lot of punches. These are things that have worked for Povetkin in fights against much smaller, weaker and slower fighters than Wladimir.

For Povetkin to be able to get away with the same kinds of things he normally does in a fight against Wladimir, Povetkin is going to need to be able to walk through a lot of heavy shots and hope his chin doesn’t betray him in this fight. Even if Povetkin does get in punching range, it doesn’t mean Wladimir will let Povetkin work on the inside all night long.

You can count on Wladimir grabbing a hold of Povetkin when he gets remotely close to prevent Povetkin from being able to get his shots off. This is why Povetkin is likely being told by his trainer Teddy Atlas to get in his shots as fast as possible every time he’s near Wladimir, because Povetkin will be quickly tied up in a clinch to keep him from landing his shots.

Povetkin hasn’t fought anyone near the level of Wladimir during his career. Povetkin really hasn’t fought anyone of note since 2008, when Povetkin won the IBF heavyweight elimination tournament. That’s something that Povetkin might pay for, because it looks as if he’s been taking it easy for the past two years while waiting for his title shot against Wladimir. Well, Povetkin has his title shot now and yo have to hope that he can make the most of it and doesn’t fold up immediately once the leather starts flying from Wladimir.



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